Every Mother Counts

I was in labor with my son Patrick for 26 hours. My daughter Alice took 13. The only time I cried for either birth was when I was getting an epidural for Patrick. For hours and hours intense contractions increased and lack of food for energy were catching up with me and I decided to have some help to relieve the pain. As the needle went in, tears came flooding out. All I could think about were other women in the world right then and there experiencing the same pain but were not as fortunate to receive medication when requested. The nurse wiped away my tears and reassured me that everything was okay, but I could not fathom why I was so lucky to receive medication when others had to suffer. The irony is that for the rest of Patrick’s birth, I could feel the pain on one side and not the other since the epidural did not work correctly.

As Mother’s Day came around again, I still felt haunted by how “easy” my birth stories are compared to other Moms. Scrolling through my feed on Instagram had me troubled that day. Through an inspiration blogging conference, Alt Summit, we had been introduced to an organization called Every Mother Counts. At the conference, we had watched a documentary that showed how Mothers across the globe gave birth. The complications and seriousness of childbirth is intense.

287,000 women die every year as a result of complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

That’s one woman every T W O minutes.

On average – four orphans are left behind.

Not only is the role of Mother gone, but whatever position/s she held in her community.

The most compelling stat is that 90% of these deaths are preventable.

On Mothers’s Day, I felt helpless. My two beautiful children were enjoying lunch when I walked into the office and started sobbing to my husband James. I had horrible guilt about enjoying these carefree and magical moments while other Mothers were not able to enjoy theirs. I follow Every Mother Counts on Instagram, and seeing something in their feed that day started the wheels turning. What can I do for others? What can I do to ensure that other Mothers are around to not only play with their children, but continue teaching and building their communities? James agreed that the best way

Reading more on the Every Mother Counts page, I am ready to help change these numbers. I am compelled to host a screening of the documentary I watched called No Woman, No Cry with my friends and talk about how we can help. Fundraising before and that night along with donating phones will be the first steps, and once I have a date finalized, I’ll have a better idea of what else I can do for the organization. Please stay posted here for the invite. Once a few family events on my end are scheduled, I’ll be posting all the details for a night together with my girlfriends. Checkbooks at the ready, people.